submitted 5 years ago by Cherno_JournoThe DayZ Novel now at www.chernojourno.com or Amazon.com

Cherno Goes Crazy

Duke was right about shit going down in Chernogorsk that morning. Shutov had continually tried to quell the rising panic that rushed over his men but this became more difficult with each additional shot that rang out across town. He wasn’t helped by the fact that any rest they had was broken at dawn by the incessant ringing of the church bells. What had been, up until then, an orderly unit, was very quickly breaking apart, with the men speaking over the top of each other in increasingly panicked tones.

They were inside a general store, having stumbled across it whilst moving towards the church to stop the bells. The store had been almost picked clean but there were enough supplies to provide the men with some hope. The loot had been gathered and placed in a pile in the middle of the store. It consisted mostly of food and water but they’d also found a map and compass which Shutov was studying when the first shot reverberated throughout the store.

Vuk was at the store entrance looking out to determine the direction the firing emanated from. “I think it’s coming from that way,” he spoke as he indicated to the west. Shutov tried to remain calm “It could be another survivor so there’s no need to panic.” But to him it seemed too orderly and too consistent to be another survivor just firing at Zeds.
“Vuk, take The Butcher with you and get eyes on the shooter. If he’s from the ship then get him to stop before he draws in every Zed around.”

The Butcher nodded, popping open the double barrel shotgun to check that it was loaded. “Do we really need that?” Vuk asked.

“Hey you want to go out there with only your dick in hand then be my guest, hatchet boy. Me, I’m taking Vera with me.” He smiled as he popped the shotgun closed and he walked out of the store.

Vuk and The Butcher moved methodically along the road’s edge, hugging buildings and fences where possible to keep a low profile. Most of the Zeds they passed weren’t interested in them – instead being drawn to the sounds of the shots. As they rounded a red brick building, Vuk saw a figure standing at the top of the smoke stack. His heart lept into his throat as the figure had a sniper rifle trained right in his direction.

Assuming he was done for, Vuk closed his eyes and waited for the shot which rang out, almost immediately. Realizing he was not hit, he opened his eyes to see a Zed lying 50 meters in front of him, the fresh bullet hole gaping open in his forehead. Vuk scrambled back around the corner to The Butcher.

“He’s around this corner at the top of the smoke stack,” he whispered to the Butcher.

“Can you tell who it is?” the Butcher asked.

“Too far and he’s in shadow.”

“Then we’ll cut across the road and keep making our way down this street.”

“That’s suicide. He just got a headshot off from three hundred meters away. Whatever he’s shooting with, it’s long range and he’s very accurate. He’ll shoot us before he hears our voices.”

“So what then?”

“Fuck give me a moment, I just had a gun pointed at me.”

They both leaned against the wall and Vuk looked around. Another shot rang out, causing them both to jump and Vuk looked back east, shielding his eyes from the sun.

“The sun. We use the sun. If we go back and two blocks over, we should be able to keep the sun to our back as we make our way over.”
“And that helps us how?”

“The sun is low and strong. It’s almost blinding. If we keep it to our backs he won’t be able to see us moving which means we can get close while he’s virtually blinded. You can’t shoot what you can’t see.”
The Butcher nodded impressed “Ok, we’ll do it that way.”

Vuk indicated the shotgun “And don’t fire that thing unless you need to. I don’t want to scare him until we find out why he’s shooting.”
Using Vuk’s plan and keeping the sun to their backs they managed to make it over towards the entrance gates of the building the shooter was perched on top of without incident. The Butcher was about to open the gates when Vuk grabbed his hand looking it over. “It’s old and rusted, so wait for a shot before you open it.” They didn’t have to wait long; the shot’s echo masked the squeak of the rusted gate opening.

Before them was a helicopter landing pad with a red cross and some military tents. It appeared that at some point this had been staging area for medical evacs, with some bodies nearby still in body bags that made no impact of masking the smell. Vuk and The Butcher surveyed the area from the shadow of the wall noting the ladder that led all the way up to the top of the smoke stack.

Vuk pointed to the furthest tent. “You get in there where you can see him but he can’t see you. I think he’s just shooting Zeds but if not, it’s better that he only sees one of us.”

“Works for me,” and with that, The Butcher crept over to the furthest tent. His shotgun trained on the figure thirty meters up the smoke stack. “Don’t bother with the shotgun” Vuk whispered “The pellets will never reach that far up if you do fire.”

“Maybe he doesn’t know that” The Butcher replied.

With The Butcher in place, Vuk stashed the hatchet inside a tent and moved out on the helipad, arms held high and palms out to demonstrate that he was unarmed. He called out “You there shooting. Down here.”

Joe wiped the sweat off his forehead as the rising sun beat down on him. His ears were ringing from the sounds of the shots and once again he cursed himself for not getting ear plugs, although he wasn’t sure if he’d still be able to find any. There was some other sound but he couldn’t be sure. “You up there, I’m down here at the helipad.” It was a voice. The demons had gained the power of speech. Joe put it down to hallucinations and looked for another demon to wipe off the scarred earth.

“Can you hear me?” The voice was louder and more insistent. Joe moved around and looked down. The sun was bright on this side and Joe had to shield his eyes but he could see something down at the helipad. There was a black figure all in shadow and it was waving both arms over its head at him. Joe smiled in elation. It was Jesus. He had come down to personally take Joe up into heaven – the mission was complete. “Jesus! My lord I am ready.” But the voice called back “I’m not Jesus, my name is Vuk. I’m from a boat that was shipwrecked last night. There are other survivors, and we mean you no harm.”

“You’re not Jesus?” Joe was forlorn.

“No I’m a survivor. Like you.”

Joe studied the figure that was in shadow. What trickery was this? There were no boats. There were no survivors. There was only Joe and the demons, he knew he was the last man on Earth because God had told him so. But if this was not a man and he was not one of the demons then… and then it came to Joe. A revelation. This was not Christ, it was the Anti-Christ. Satan himself had come to tempt Joe and take him off his mission as he had tempted Christ in the desert. That’s why the figure was in shadow. That’s why he had no face. Joe watched Satan intently as he unloaded the last magazine and reached into the pile for a new magazine.

From his vantage point Vuk could see the move, although he couldn’t be sure, he guessed at what was happening and started to back away towards the wall, arms still up. “Hey I’m not sure what you’re thinking but it’s true. We can help each other. It doesn’t have to be like this.” From up high the voice responded. “I cast thee out Beelzebub. You and your demon spawn.” Vuk looked around as he saw the rifle rise and train on him, there was no cover but he ran and dived anyway hoping for a miracle which ironically was what Joe was also hoping for.
The first shot whizzed past Joe’s feet to the place he was standing seconds ago.

Vuk rose up and ran towards the smoke stack, hoping the angle would help. It did as the second shot was too wide. Joe stood up and looked down the stack trying to find Vuk when his body was abruptly riddled by AK 47 bullets. It stumbled back with each hit before toppling over the rail as he fell to certain death. Vuk heard the sickening sound of Joe’s vertebra cracking as he landed neck first, ten meters away from him.

Vuk scanned where the shots had come from to see The Butcher walking towards him with the AK 47 in hand. Vuk was first relived that Joe didn’t have someone else with him but his relief quickly dissipated as The Butcher kept the rifle trained on him.

Vuk had good cause to be worried as The Butcher was at this moment debating whether to pull the trigger and also kill Vuk. He knew it was an irrational thought. The Butcher felt his breath quickening and his blood was up, he was learning that he liked to kill. He looked around, there was no one to see, no police force to lock him up, he could just pull the trigger and kill this man right here and now without any consequences. He took a deep breath in – that kind of power was heady. Finally the rational part of his brain got a word in. There is no benefit mow in killing him, so save it until there is. You have a better chance of surviving with him alive right now than not – when that changes, pull the trigger.

The Butcher called out “Is he dead?” Vuk nodded not taking eyes off the gun trained right at him. The Butcher nodded in return and lowered the AK 47 at which point Vuk let out a long held breath. Recognition passed between the two of them – they both knew how close Vuk just came to dying and it had nothing to do with Joe shooting at him. Vuk decided there and then the only way he was going to get through this was to make himself indispensible.

“I see you upgraded.”

“Yeah her name is Grace and she had no trouble reaching up there. You can have Vera if you want, I left that bitch back there,” The Butcher said as he took the CZ 550 off Joe’s corpse not thinking of offering it to Vuk. “This is for Shutov.” The Butcher slug the rifle over his shoulder as he continued to rifle through Joe’s corpse.